


Wherever you are is the place I belong

by ArtificialCatrina



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, College AU, Domestic Fluff, F/F, F/M, Fluff, God I needed fluff after my other fic, Humor, I'm running out of ideas tbh, M/M, lots of fluff i think
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2019-09-05 14:27:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16812478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtificialCatrina/pseuds/ArtificialCatrina
Summary: Join us into this emotional hurricane to explore the dangers of fame, a broken heart, lack of money and the insane need of validation. At the end of the day, everything we want is to run.





	1. The Friday night Guru

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO EVERYONE!!! I HOPE YOU'RE HAVING AN AMAZING DECEMBER! here i am, again with another fic, this one a little bit... different? idk but i felt like i needed some of this after in death as in life! hope you like it and if you did pls let me know!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron receives bad news, which leads him to think that maybe this is not his week, or his month, or his life...

Aaron tried to fit the key on the door. He really did try, but nothing seemed to come out quite right that Friday. He figured it out the moment he spilled water into one of his books, and when his favorite Dr. Martens received a horrible dirt stain he couldn’t possibly get off, and when he discovered Cerrone decided it would be fun to get his entire coat full of small white hairs at the campus, and then when... it didn’t even matter. 

There was a raw shriek, and when Aaron looked down, all in his hand was his key, perfectly parted in two. He sighed and leaned onto the door, cursing under his breath. He was sure of something: nothing of that could be as bad if Aquaria was there. And by the way, where the hell was she? When they talked on the phone, she had promised to be home on time, but by now Aaron should’ve known that Aquaria was terrible keeping promises. 

“I’m here, I’m here! God I’m so sorry!” 

His question was answered when a rushed Aquaria broke into his vision running down the hallway, carrying more than probably ten bags with her, along with two Starbucks and, of course, a pink beret adoring her messy blonde hair. Her high heels made her walking seem ridiculously hard but she moved gracefully. 

She stopped with a long snort and handed him one of the Starbucks, a freshly made cappuccino macchiato. 

“I brought your favorite,” she mumbled, smiling innocently, and proudly. Aaron would always complain about how often she forgot his Starbucks order, and he wasn’t gonna deny that the fact she actually remembered being in a rush did surprise him. Of course, he couldn’t see the ink messily written in Aquaria’s palm that read _Aaron, cappuccino macchiato, not much sugar._

“Whatever,” he took it in a sharp move and stepped back, nodding at the door. “This shit broke my key again. Do you have yours?” 

“I surely do!” 

Aquaria managed to open the door easily, with the tons of bags hanging from her arms, and Aaron followed her inside. 

Their little apartment always had its relaxing and warm aura, even when there were sketches spread on the floor, table and couches, thousands of papers with drawings and variated song lyrics, canvas covered with paint that seemed to not make sense, and mugs with remains of coffee following a disaster to the kitchen, where forgotten dishes with left overs rested on the turned off stove. Bottles of foundation, eye shadows and brushes were also a big part of its charming. And the wigs, unfinished dresses and colorful bodysuits hanging from mannequins. 

They were happy to call it home. 

“I went shopping today,” Aquaria commented, as if it wasn’t obvious, surrounded by bags on the little couch that was old enough to shriek under her weight. She lifted one of the bags in her hand. “Wanna see what mommy got? I’m thinking of doing a video for YouTube with all of this. It’d be so cool!” 

Aaron kicked off of his poor boots with a growl and threw them under the very same couch. He made a beeline to the kitchen, eyes already looking for something that didn’t look so bad to ingest. There was some soup left in the fridge, he only had to check if it wasn’t— okay, it smelled disgusting, it was definitely rotten. He placed it back with a disgusted grimace. 

“What I really wanna see is your bank account. How much money have you been spending this month? Surely not a sane amount.” 

“You’re just bitter.” 

“And better,” he stuck his tongue out just when she turned, gaining a roll of her eyes. “I’m starving, want some take out? I’m thinking of some sushi from that new Japanese restaurant that’s like a block away.” 

“I just brought you Starbucks!” 

“Coffee can’t be your only meal,” he seriously said. It was Aquaria’s turn to show him her tongue. “Plus, I need nutrients, today really worn me off. I don’t know why everything just... went bad. Horribly bad.” 

There was something different in his voice that time, something that made her didn’t want her to make fun of it. Aquaria stopped analyzing the fabric of an elegant black blazer with white lines that was previously in the bag to glance up at him, any bit of joy suddenly leaving her as she made some room on the couch, pushing the bags away. 

“Wanna talk about it?” she softly offered. 

He was silent, biting his lip as hard as he could, making the skin go white. His eyes had lost any sharpness Aquaria had seen in them, now glazed globes looking directly down. In less than two seconds he was already brining two cans of beer over to the couch. Aquaria took hers immediately and they drank half the can in just one gulp, their forgotten coffees still over the table beside the door. Coffees were for a good moment, and that was definitely not one. 

“I don’t know how to say this,” Aaron started. 

Aquaria put the beer away. Her undivided attention was now on her best friend, roommate, half-dream-brother. Whose eyes were lost in some part of the room, whose voice was low and gaunt, whose characteristic sassy personality had faded. 

“Aaron...” 

“Donovan and I are taking a break.” 

A breath stuck on Aquaria’s throat. 

“What?” 

“Ugh, well, we broke up,” Aaron admitted, rolling his eyes. “A break my fucking— you know what? I think it was the best. The best for us.” 

Aquaria didn’t even blink, still in a slight state of shock. 

“Fuck...” she whispered. “That is... that’s some... I’m sorry.” 

Aaron drew on an ironic small air of laugh. Or attempt, something very similar to a controlled sob. 

“I said the exact same thing,” he muttered. “He called me at third period, asked to meet me in the cafeteria… you should’ve seen him, Aqua, he looked so determined… so sure… I could only say sorry.” 

“So... it was his idea?” Aquaria’s hand was suddenly on his shoulder, squeezing lovingly. “Because right now we can go and... I don’t know, cover his windows with eggs or pinch the wheels of his car! I personally like the egg idea.” 

He wanted to laugh, but all the could manage instead was a shaky sigh with the tears already forming in his eyes. Aquaria let him lie down on the couch, his legs bent in a fetal position as his head rested on her lap. Her fingers instantly went to tangle around his bleach blonde strands. 

“I just don’t get it,” his voice sounded defeated. “I don’t know what I did wrong. You know I tried. Fuck me up if I didn’t try! I went to family dinners with him. We went to San Diego together. Fucking shit, I even let him drive Lucy! Even when he crashed into a fucking tree and ruined her! I walked his stupid dog every single morning when he was in Chicago. What did I do wrong?” 

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Aquaria promised. “He doesn’t deserve you, we knew that. You’re too good for him.” 

“Then why did he leave me?” 

Any anger on his tone was gone, leaving only a torturous melancholy behind. 

“I don’t know, but what I do know, is that you’re the best person on earth,” she cooed. Her nails softly scratched the back of his head. “You’re smart, cute, you never let your loved ones down, you like cats and art, you love watching cheesy movies on a Friday night, you’re passionate and funny. You can’t stop claiming that just because someone doesn’t see it.” 

Her words echoed through the small living room before a long pause. 

“I just… I really loved him. Fuck,” he sobbed, burying his face into the soft fabric of Aquaria’s skirt. She seemed not to mind. “I thought we would be together for a long time, I wished we were together for a long time. How did it end so suddenly? Why didn’t I see it coming?” 

Aquaria sighed. “I know and it sucks, but you can’t do anything about it.” 

“I can cry.” 

“Yeah, but I won’t let you! Your skin is too pretty for that,” she said as if it was obvious, snorting a laugh. “Here’s what we’re going to do: we’re gonna call that Japanese restaurant, eat the worries away, and then prepare a new video for my YouTube channel. What do you think?” 

Aaron mumbled something under the lines of _I’m not in the mood_. 

“C’mon! I’m not letting you get all depressed tonight, or any night,” Aquaria lovingly tapped his shoulder. “You love being in my videos, I know it cheers you up, and afterwards we can watch any movie you want while I edit it. Please?” 

“I don’t know...” 

“Please?!” 

“Okay, fine.” 

“That’s my boy!” 

\- 

Justin’s day had ended, not surprisingly, neither good or bad. A little better than others, he decided at the end of his shift. Starbucks was always a crowded place, no matter time or day, but at least that day it wasn’t too much to handle. 

What he hated the most about Fridays was definitely closing. After all his coworkers left, checking every door and window, making sure every machine was turned off before he could slip out of his green apron was a well-known routine, which he performed flawlessly each time. At the end, he would walk out and get the first cab he saw, directly home. 

He felt lucky Katya and Trixie were already home; he hated being alone, especially those days. His nose was filled with the warm smell of pasta as soon as he could cross the door; it was their turn to cook dinner, or buy it, whatever that was easier. Trixie’s tall figure was balancing from one side of the kitchen to another with a silver tray in her hands, and when he walked over, closing the door so the cold air of the New York City nights couldn’t reach inside the house, he discovered Katya sitting on the counter with a sauce flask. 

Since Trixie was too busy putting her entire attention to the casserole on the stove, Katya was the one to greet him. 

“Justin!” 

Her sudden scream was definitely not the best thing in the middle of a dead silence. Trixie jumped on her spot, smacking Katya’s arm. 

“You scared me!” 

“But Justin is here!” Katya rubbed her arm, carefully trying to not let the sauce flask fall. 

God, why were his best friends the most ridiculous people on earth? Justin couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the scene. 

“There he is! Our handsome son after a long day of work,” Trixie placed a hand on her forehead, as dramatically as she could. 

“Oh, shut up, anything that has any of you involved in being a mother makes me sick,” Justin grimaced in distaste as Trixie laughed, leaning to press a gentle kiss of her cheek. 

“I would be a great mom!” Trixie gasped in fake offense, turning to her girlfriend. “What do you think, Kat? Should we have kids?” 

Katya was too busy licking the left sauce from the flask, but managed to nod at her question. 

“Yeah. That kid will be definitely lucky,” he ironized. 

“Don’t worry, I know a good psychologist for them!” Katya’s teeth showed in a bright smile, remains of sauce covering them. 

“No way we’re sending our kid to anyone you _know_ ,” Trixie stated, pointing Katya accusingly with the big wooden spoon she held. “No offense, but, like, I don’t trust you... babe.” 

“Rude!” 

“You two are just relationship goals,” Justin mumbled. 

Trixie’s laughter filled the kitchen one more time before she turned to the stove again. She turned off the fire under the casserole and shouted her best “dinner’s ready!” in a sugary covered voice. 

Dinner at home, since Katya and Trixie had moved, meant to sit at the counter with their dishes and plastic cups filled with neither grape juice (that Katya swore tasted like wine, even when Justin and Trixie knew grape juice was years away to be considered wine yet, they weren’t going to explain her fermentation) or simple water. The nice feeling of good company could block out the lack of glamour. 

“There’s this video of a monkey trying to bite his own foot that we watched today at work,” Katya was too focused on her story to look at her messy dish under her chin, “Violet said it was gross but I think it was fascinating. I identify with it.” 

“Why would a monkey— I won’t even ask,” Trixie sighed tiredly, but reached for her phone a couple of seconds after with a smile. “I’ll look it up.” 

“You totally should!” Katya nodded in excitement. 

The kitchen went silent the moment Trixie’s eyes glued to her phone and Katya waited patiently for a response. Justin wouldn’t admit it, but he was curious to see whatever Katya happened to watch at work earlier, smiling behind his own dish. 

“Oh. My. God.” 

Something in Trixie’s phone had made her freeze in her spot. Katya glanced up, trying to look behind her shoulder. 

“What? Is it the monkey?” 

“No,” Trixie pressed on the screen one more time. “Is Age of Aquaria. Oh my god, Age of Aquaria was at Justin’s job!” 

For the first time since their conversation got into monkeys and nonsense videos, the mention of his name made Justin stop chewing and swallow slowly. 

“Age of who?” 

“Age of Aquaria!” gasped Trixie. “Oh my god, Justin! She was at your job! I can’t believe it! Did you give her coffee?!” 

The phone was handed at him with the picture of a blonde shining on the screen and Justin took it to analyze the Instagram story. This girl —Aquaria, or Age of Aquaria, as he guessed she was named—, was holding a Starbucks under her chin for the selfie, with a location underneath that was definitely on the mall he worked. The picture was adored with a cheesy filter and a text in shiny pink letters that read _shopping time_ on top. 

“Uh... I don’t know her,” was everything he said. “Introduction, please?” 

“Do you live under a rock?” Trixie questioned, taking her phone back with an expression so serious she only used when makeup or Dolly Parton got into the conversation. “She’s a model, fashion and make up vlogger, skinny legend and my total spirit animal.” 

“She’s is kind of a ‘celebrity’ around New York City,” Katya explained, mimicking quotation marks on the word celebrity. “I’m not gonna lie, I’m impressed of how famous that kid has become these months, she’s fucking viral.” 

“She made a video about her new purse and it received two million views,” Trixie remarked. “My mind was blown.” 

It took Justin two minutes of pure silence before he couldn’t hold his laughter back anymore. 

“It’s ridiculous, you’re getting over excited about this kid. Yes, she came today, and yes, I gave her coffee, there is not anything unusual on that. She’s just a girl with a camera, and apparently, a lot of money,” he shook his head, still laughing. “People become celebrities so easily nowadays.” 

“Excuse me, but Aquaria is actually one of the few makeup vloggers that worth it,” Trixie raised a single finger at him. “Once she commented my post on Instagram and said my eyeshadow was just fine when everybody else was saying I looked like a clown so I love her since then.” 

“And she’s funny sometimes. I enjoy her collaborations with Jeffree Star,” looking down at her pasta, Katya commented. “You should give her a chance.” 

“Yes! Katya is right,” Trixie nodded, frowning when she realized what she had said. “Wow, that’s weird, I’m not used to Katya being right. Anyways, she just posted a new video, what if you watch it? Would you change your mind?” 

“I’m open to anything,” Justin shrugged. 

That was it; Trixie picked a video from a YouTube channel (Justin’s eyes snapped open when he saw Aquaria had nearly three million followers) and placed the phone on the counter, leaning against a bottle of Ketchup so the three of them could see the tiny screen as they ate. 

Apparently, the video was the third part of a series called _The Fabulous Shopping_ and from what Trixie explained before it started, in said series Aquaria would give tips to transform ugly clothes or clothes that were bought online and didn’t fit in real life, it was almost a survival guide. Aquaria’s figure appeared on screen, from above her waist to the top of her head, were a pink beret rested, in front of a baby pink background. 

“ _Hello everyone, your girl Aquaria is back here! I hope y’all are having an amazing day. This is another part of The Fabulous Shopping!_ ” 

From there the video was pretty genetic. She showed how she sewed a shirt, cut a skirt and painted a denim jacket. Trixie and Katya watched attentively, nodding in agreement when she discarded something, and snickered when Aquaria made a snarky comment about any other member of the YouTube beauty community. Justin couldn’t see the attractive in her yet; for him, she was still the same girl who asked for two coffees earlier, who had written her friend’s order in her hand so she couldn’t forget it. A pretty goofy girl, in his opinion. 

Then, something caught his attention; in the middle of the pink aura covering the screen someone else showed up. By Aquaria’s side, a blonde guy took a seat in a pink armchair. 

“Who is that?” he couldn’t help but ask. 

“I think that’s her roomie? I don’t remember,” Katya replied, disinterested as she watched a skirt Aquaria held up. “I think his name is Aaron. Trix?” 

“Oh, yeah, that’s Aaron. He’s always in her videos,” Trixie confirmed. 

“ _As usual, this_ _can’t be one of my videos without the help of my best friend Aaron right here. Sometimes I think you love him more than you love me_ ,”Aquaria laughed, pointing at the guy, who laughed with her. 

“ _Of course they love me more! I don’t blame them for that_ ,” the guy said, and Justin couldn’t help but smile; he was right, in fact, since his presence was the first thing that had caught Justin’s attention of the entire video. 

It was impossible to deny that Aaron and Aquaria had an amazing chemistry in front of the camera. Since his entrance, Justin found himself looking at the video just the way Trixie and Katya did, surprised by how the little comments made him giggle; since Aquaria talking about how ugly Aaron’s hair was, to Aaron replying that at least his hair was real. 

The video ended with a song by Lady Gaga and both Aquaria and Aaron’s social media on screen. Trixie blocked her phone with a satisfied sigh. 

“So?” she turned at Justin. “What’s the verdict?” 

“She’s kind of empty,” he simply said. Trixie rolled her eyes, which made him add, “Okay, you win, she’s cool. Even though she has no personality, she knows how to make good videos. That and... her clothes are pretty. Happy now?” 

“Only if the next time she goes to Starbucks you ask her for a video for me.” 

“And for me! Oh, please!” Katya rushed to say, raising her hand. 

Knowing perfectly how that would end, Justin forced a smile and nodded, wishing Aquaria would never show up at his job again, for their sake. 

\- 

It was Saturday afternoon. The curtains of the two windows in the room were down, covering the space in darkness, darkness that was only interrupted by flashes of thick sunlight that achieved escaping through the end of them. Aaron’s sleep was deep, with his whole body comfortably tucked under blankets, his soft breathing delicately moving one of the covers up and down. 

The peace was not broken even when the door opened and Aquaria stepped inside, trying not to trip with the full dish and mug in her hands as she dodged the clothes remaining on the floor. She made it to the nightstand successfully to place the food and sat on the bed, beside the blanket-ball that she knew was Aaron. 

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” she ironically sang. 

Her sweet tone definitely woke him up, but he didn’t move, and the only response she got was a groan. 

“It’s almost five, you’ve been in bed since last night,” there was no other answer. “C’mon, get up! It’s Saturday and we have stuff to do so it’s the perfect time to get your shit together!” 

“What kind of stuff?” he asked, voice muffed thanks to the covers around him. 

“It’s a surprise. I won’t tell you if you don’t come out.” 

“You know I won’t come out.” 

“You’re impossible!” Aquaria whined desperately. She sighed and ran a hand through her long hair, taking her composure back. “Okay, listen, what we have tonight is pretty big.” 

“Spill it,” the blanket ball spoke. 

“It’s a party.” 

“We have millions of parties.” 

“But this one has a special guest!” Aquaria smacked her hand against where she thought Aaron’s head was. “Guess who?” 

“Hm. Who?” 

“Adore Delano!” 

The happy announce seemed to not move anything on Aaron. 

“I don’t even like her music.” 

“That’s not the point,” her tone soon became exasperated. “She’s famous and willing to be with us, in the same table, which will bring tons and tons of followers. There will be free drinks, it’d be like heaven! Come on, you can’t be depressed in bed every day, right?” 

“I can try.” 

Rolling her eyes, Aquaria took the mug, filled with chamomile tea, and held it above Aaron. She hoped the smell would attack him like honey would attack a bee. Her theory turned out correct when a hand risen from the covers and took the mug. Aaron pushed the covers away and slowly sat straight to drink, getting out of his depressing cocoon for the first time in the day. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” he accused Aquaria with a small pout, lowering the mug when it was almost finished. 

“Looking at you like what?” she defended, her mood changing to laugh softly. 

“Like I’m a disaster. I know I’m one, I’m not just ready to acknowledge it yet.” 

“Idiot,” Aquaria whispered with a smile. “Your eyes are swollen as fuck, I think your body itself acknowledges being a disaster.” 

“Damn it.” 

“Don’t worry, we’ve got some foundation for that,” she assured as he ran a hand through his hair, starting to complain about his image, which he hadn’t even seen to know it was bad. 

“Foundation won’t be enough for this. Ugh.” 

Over the dish on the nightstand there was a sandwich, but not any sandwich. The bread was slightly toasted, covered with shiny butter, lettuce and tomato slipping out from the sides over a generous layer of vegan ham. Such a simple dish was very known in the apartment was Aquaria’s way to turn depression into instant happiness; delicious and famous around her friends, especially Aaron. He remembered eating versions of the sandwich every time he was down, and it wasn’t the good amount of ingredients on it what made it so comfortable, but how good he knew Aquaria’s intentions were when she made it. 

“I made my special,” she offered him the dish, nice determination on her tone. “Eat this shit up, take a shower, wear some good clothes and you’ll be fine.” 

He stared at her with pure adoration, a tender smile going across his lips. 

“You love me, you really love me!” he hummed instead of a thanks, because that wouldn’t be the kind of things Aaron said, and that wouldn’t be the kind of things that Aquaria was used to listen. 

“Shut up!” she burst out laughing. “I’m just doing this because I think you’re pathetic enough, so eat up.” 

At the third bite to the sandwich, Aaron realized something: a day of mourning was a more than enough for a post break up period. He had spent his whole Friday night and part of Saturday in bed, buried under the covers, tear after tear streaming down his face and he wouldn’t allow himself more. 

\- 

“The uber is here! Hurry up!” 

Aquaria’s voice sounded from outside just when Aaron was finishing checking his face on the mirror. In her opinion he looked just fine, with the dark eyeshadow around his eyes that Aquaria herself had done since he was too tired, but tonight was different and he knew it from the point where Aquaria’s opinion wasn’t enough. It was his first party since the breakup, barely a day after, and dressed in black skinny jeans, an Amanda Lepore shirt and a black leather jacket with his hair perfectly done and face painted by the gods (or in this case Aquaria, but there was not a lot of difference), he knew he had to bring it on. 

When Aaron closed the door of the apartment behind him, everything visible in the tender light of the hallway was the shiny fabric of Aquaria’s dress. 

“Are you pretending to drive everybody blind tonight with that dress?” 

Aquaria didn’t even look up from her phone. “Of course I do.” 

Someone, from some magazine that he definitely didn’t remember, had sent her the dress as a gift when they made an article about her ‘rising talent’. Aquaria felt flattered, though Aaron thought the dress was only a way to make publicity to the magazine in a way they could handle: making someone famous to wear it. Although this made sense, Aquaria wasn’t offended with this idea. “Aaron, that means they think I’m famous enough to wear it!” she had said. And Aaron had gone shopping for matching jewelry with her the day after. 

They pulled into the back seat of the uber, greeting the driver shortly before the car would start moving. Luckily, the party wasn’t too far away from their building and the remain minutes of trip were used to check every social media. 

“Yesterday’s video was great! It had a good response,” Aquaria turned her phone so Aaron could see the comments in her YouTube channel. “What should the next video be about?” 

“Adore Delano puked in my mouth. And it should be a series as well!” he said with an excited tone, both of them bursting out laughing. 

Aquaria went silent for a moment. She locked her phone and threw it into her purse, leaning into her side to rest her head on Aaron’s shoulder. 

“Thanks for coming with me tonight.” 

Aaron poked her ribs, still laughing softly as he scrolled down Instagram. 

“You’re cute, but it’s nothing.” 

“No, I know you’re not in the best mood, and I appreciate the fact you’re here,” she spoke, sounding totally sincere. “Listen: if we arrive, and the party is a mess, and there’s no good press to talk to, we’ll leave. I promise. I know I said it would be big but I just want you to be alright.” 

“Aquaria,” Aaron sighed, locking his phone as well. “I’m alright, okay? Don’t worry about me. Tonight is about Adore Delano and your numbers.” 

“Yeah, but, like... between you and my numbers, I care about you,” Aquaria whispered, her eyes lost somewhere in the dark streets of New York, lit by the numerous signs of night life. 

Aaron pressed a chaste kiss into her forehead, carefully avoiding messing her foundation. “I love you so much. You know that, right? There’s no way I can’t be alright with you by my side.” 

“I love you too.” 

She took her phone, glancing at her wallpaper for a second before the screen went black again. Her wallpaper was one of her favorite pictures in the world, and the most surprising thing about it was that it wasn’t a photoshoot for a magazine or one she would post on Instagram. It was a selfie she had taken with Aaron in their first trip to Las Vegas years ago. Smiley faces under the sunlight received her every time she wanted to unlock her phone. 

“Let’s take a picture,” she proposed, sitting straight as she logged into Instagram. “I want to remember this night as much as possible. I don’t know why, I have a good feeling about this party.”


	2. Close-To-Death Experience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything can happen after a party, and Aquaria and Aaron know it better than anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, as you must've known, i took a break from everything, and that everything included writing, for several months. but anyway, i'm back and ready to continue all my three works in here and post all i have in mind ! thanks for reading xoxo

When Aquaria started chasing a surrealistic dream of becoming famous, Aaron never expected she would take him with her. When she started doing videos, at first of makeup tutorials, giving her opinion about famous topics (like albums of Madonna or Grey’s Anatomy episodes), Aaron was more than fine watching her from a side. He would help her set the camera, sometimes edit the videos and then they would laugh at the comments. 

But one day Aquaria was invited to a gala for young people interested in fashion, and someone needed to be there to take pictures of her beautiful golden bodysuit, so Aaron attended said gala with no protest. She seemed incredibly happy to not being alone there and her followers seemed glad as well that she had company, especially when they commented on Instagram how funny the stories that Aquaria posted in the Uber with Aaron were. Other day Aquaria was invited to model for an independent magazine, and someone needed to be there to hold her stuff, so Aaron attended said photoshoot with no protest. Again: her followers went wild. It happened a third, and fourth, and fifth time. 

Suddenly, Aaron started being tagged in ‘appreciation posts’ on Instagram by thirteen years old girls, in which his pictures would be reposted with comments about how funny he was and how much of a good friend he was for Aquaria. Her denominated fans would like every single one of his pictures, make cute edits with screenshots from the videos, some of them even joked about how he was the star of the YouTube channel instead of Aquaria. 

He didn’t mind, of course. He was helping Aquaria, and a little bit of attention did not hurt him at all. She took him to parties, any kind of galas, every event she was invited to, but Aaron was sure of one damned thing... 

None of those events had been like Adore Delano’s party. 

Aaron knew it from the moment he and Aquaria stepped out of the uber and their eyes fell into the huge line made outside the club. The muffed sound of music was audible from their spot and Aaron let out a long sigh, following Aquaria directly to the door, not bothering to look back to the annoyed people who were forced to wait to get in. Some of them recognized Aquaria, but their screams weren’t enough to make her stop walking, and if she didn’t stop, Aaron thought he had no reason to stop neither. 

Mr. Doorman stood firmly, and nothing seemed to move a thing on him until Aquaria walked over with her best smile. 

“Goodnight, I’m Aquaria. The Age of Aquaria,” she proudly announced, as if it was a new he would be happy to hear. “I’m on the list.” 

The man, tall and intimidating as a building, didn’t hesitate to let her in with the returning of the smile after he checked the paper on his hands. However, his friendly exterior faded when he placed a firm hand on Aaron’s shoulder and stopped him from following Aquaria inside. 

“Any problem?” Aaron frowned. 

“She’s on the list,” he pointed out, “But you’re not.” 

“Oh, c’mon!” 

Before Aaron could say something else, Aquaria was already pulling him inside. 

“He comes with me!” she assured in a high pitched voice, so high it could shatter glass, and the man seemed as if he couldn’t tell if she was pissed or not. “We’re the whole package. Is there a problem with that?” 

The man sighed and shook his head, releasing Aaron’s shoulder from his grip with a slight grunt. 

“Have fun,” was all he said. 

Aaron looked behind his shoulder for a second before Aquaria tugged on the sleeve of his jacket, forcing him to keep walking. 

“Third time in the month,” he hissed, rolling his eyes. “This is the third time in the month that this kind of shit happens.” 

Aquaria could only laugh. 

“Maybe you should become famous too; your name would be the one on the list,” she said, too easily to be taken seriously. Aaron smiled at the simple preposition. 

“And stop being your arm candy? I’m not ready to upgrade like that!” 

Her louder laughter caught the attention of the few people that remained close to the main door. 

On the inside, it was a mess made of loud music, fluorescent lights over darkness and the thick smell of liquor. The party, Adore Delano’s party (this was a very important part and Aquaria refused to stop claiming they were in a party by one of the most popular pop singers currently), was on the second floor. The hallway from the main door to the staircase wasn’t as crowded as the first floor, from what they could see when they sneaked through the dance floor. 

“See?” Aquaria’s voice sounded small under the music. “I told you, I have a good feeling about this!” 

A wave of positivism seemed to hit Aaron the moment they reached the second floor. It was just like the first one, with a dance floor completely crowded and a bar with exotic lights and a slight cloud of some substance around, but there was something different in this floor that was hard to decide if it was worse or not. 

The famous people. 

Aquaria smiled and waved at everyone; actors, singers, drag queens, youtubers, beauty gurus, no matter if she knew them or not. They seemed wasted enough to pretend they knew her as well, and to ignore the people with cameras pointing at them every few seconds, claiming they came from prestigious magazines or webpages. According to Aquaria, the denominated paparazzi was only allowed in the staircase area. 

Was this something they had to get used to? 

“Aquaria!” a short young blonde girl appeared from somewhere, holding a camera to her neck, making them jump from the fright. “A picture?” 

“Sure!” 

Aaron knew what _a picture_ meant for Aquaria, and took her purse from her hands so she could pose freely. 

“Thanks, it’ll go right to Charming magazine website!” the girl yelled before disappearing again between the dancing bodies. 

The first thing to do, even though it wasn’t written anywhere, was to get a drink. Aaron and Aquaria started to make their way through the people to the bar, which luckily wasn’t as crowded as the rest of the floor, and which allowed them to get two nice stools facing the dance floor. 

“I’m Willam. What can I get you?” the bartender approached their side of the counter as soon as they sat. 

Aquaria smirked, placing her arm around Aaron’s shoulders. 

“What would you recommend for a broken heart, Willam?” 

The question made Willam’s lips curl into a smile. He raised a finger to indicate them to wait and turned around, taking several bottles and some ice to pour god-knows-what into two tall glasses. The drinks were of a bright blue, just like Aquaria’s eyeshadow, and they seemed to glow under the purple lights of the club. 

Aquaria took hers with her smile still intact, and as she raised the glass, Aaron took his. 

“I claim this as the beginning of a new man,” she gestured at him and then at herself, “and an already awesome woman.” 

“One gulp?” he challenged, and Aquaria’s smile grew even bigger. “Like when we used to drink beer in high school, so fast so nobody could catch us?” 

“One fucking gulp it will be.” 

Aaron couldn’t help but burst out laughing. His eyes were shut and his head whipped backwards as he drank the whole liquid in just one gulp in tandem with Aquaria. It burnt down his throat, but it felt too good. 

When the glass was empty, Aaron pulled it away. He opened his eyes and slammed it into the counter, euphoria running down his neck along with the liquid. 

“Love sucks!” 

“It will always suck!” Aquaria agreed, wiping the remains of drink off her mouth with the back of her hand. “Willam, another one please!” 

They had received the second row when a tattooed hand slammed into the bar. 

“I’ll get one of those too!” someone claimed from behind. 

When Aquaria and Aaron turned around, Adore Delano’s very figure was probably the last thing they hoped to see. Her bright green hair reached her waist and matched her dark makeup and rock star’s ripped clothes. She looked as flawless as she did on television and internet, with eyes that shined like diamonds under the club lights and lips perfectly painted red. Aquaria felt almost like a clown in her makeup, because there was no way she could wear it out the way Adore did. 

“Oh, fuck! You’re Adore Delano!” her surprise took her to almost spill her drink over the bar, which made Adore laugh. 

“The same one! And you must be the amazing Aquaria,” she wrapped her arms around her in a small hug, careful with the drink as she exclaimed, “I’ve heard nothing but good things about you. I’m so happy I could finally meet you.” 

“That’s so! That’s so...” 

Aquaria’s voice trailed off as a result of her nerves making her break off the sentence to giggle nervously. Aaron noticed it, and rushed to help her, whispering in her ear; “Cool.” 

“Yeah, that’s cool!” she thanked him with a nod and returned to Adore. “Excuse me, I’m a mess and I’ve barely had one drink.” 

Adore seemed to be more than used to it. “No problem!” 

Aquaria cleared her throat, and beside the turn the conversation took, she gestured at Aaron. “Adore, this is my friend A—” 

“Aaron! Of course I know him!” 

Aaron tried to understand why, or how, was that Adore Delano knew how he was. How one of the most famous names nowadays knew who he was. Sure, he appeared in almost every video of Aquaria, but he never did much. Why did Adore hug him with such enthusiasm? He decided to not let his mind wander for now, and just enjoy her company, making a mental note to listen to her music afterwards. It needed another chance. 

“It’s so good to meet you,” he said, smiling when they parted. 

“I can say the same!” Adore laughed, and the sound was so contagious they laughed with her. “Fuck, I love seeing you guys in videos, my friend Bianca and I always watch them.” 

Okay, maybe now Aquaria did spill a little her drink. 

“You’re saying that... Bianca Del Rio watches my videos?!” 

“She does, and she loves them! Don’t tell her I said that, though,” she motioned a zip move over her lips. “She’d kill me!” 

“No, no! Not at all!” Aquaria shook her head eagerly. 

“Cool!” Adore chuckled and leaned back into the bar to take her drink. “Now, what are we waiting for? Let’s party!” 

And everything went black. 

\- 

Sunday morning came like a blurry flash. And with it, of course, came the worst headache Aaron had felt in years. The pain seemed to increase with the sunlight directly hitting on his face. He shifted. The surface under his back, although was soft and comfortable as relief in his state, was in a limited space. Limited... so limited he soon realized he couldn’t move his legs more than a couple of inches. 

The realization of a new day was already tiring. Aaron hoped to find himself on his bed, with Aquaria’s body pressed against his in a messy way of sleep, both of them with terrible hangovers that had to be taken care of immediately. And as any other morning after a party, they would stay in bed until their heads stopped throbbing and they could be a little useful. Sundays were usually for cleaning up, even though on Monday morning the apartment would be just as dirty as it was before. 

He attempted to open his eyes slowly, a hand covering his face to protect his poor globes from the intense light while he got used to it, rubbing his temple. 

“Oh, fuck. My head is killing me,” a weak voice, Aquaria’s, murmured from somewhere near him. 

“Same here,” Aaron managed to reply in a raspy whisper. 

Aaron’s surroundings became clear in a second. He was lying across the leather backseat of a car. A worthy car from what he could see, with a perfectly neat interior; everything was clean and smelling of lime. He tried to sit straight but the dizziness was too much, so he decided to stay propped up on an elbow. He looked up and found Aquaria’s body draped across the passenger seat under an invisible sign that read _I had the worst night of my life_ : platinum blonde hair tangled all around her shoulders, dark bags under her eyes that matched her smudged make up, and the dress that once was beautiful and shiny now looked like a ball of wrinkled fabric. If she looked that bad, he didn’t even want to know how he looked. 

“Goddamn it,” he gasped. “Am I dead?” 

Aquaria shifted on the seat and stretched her arms up, as far as the car let her, trying to get back to her senses. 

“I know I look like an angel,” she cooed before a long yawn. “But as far as I know: no, you’re not dead yet.” 

Aaron would have laughed his ass off if his head didn’t hurt that much, probably. He only managed to giggle. 

“When I die, I won’t go to heaven, I know that. You look more like a demon, that’s why I’m asking.” 

“Fuck off!” Aquaria whined and leaned back in the seat seconds after. “God, I think I’m gonna throw up. I feel horrible.” 

There was a comment about her image being horrible as well trapped in Aaron’s throat. He opened his mouth, ready to roast his friend, when another realization came to his mind. And this one was way worse than a hangover. 

Neither Aquaria or him had a car. 

“Aquaria,” he suddenly called. 

“Yeah?” 

“Where are we?” 

“In a car,” she mumbled, pointing around her. “Duh.” 

Aaron took all of his willpower to sit straight, ignoring how fast his stomach was rolling, and leaned forward to smack Aquaria’s arm. 

“Whose car, idiot!” 

The realization seemed to fall over her like cold water over her shoulders. She turned back at Aaron, her expression showing instant panic. 

“Oh my god, Aaron, where are we?!” 

With no received answer, Aquaria tried to violently open the door, but whined in frustration when she realized it was locked. 

“Fucking shit,” Aaron bit down on his lip, looking nervously around. His head reached both of the doors at his sides but none of them would open neither. “Are we being kidnaped? I can’t be kidnaped, I have an essay to deliver tomorrow!” 

The simple idea made Aquaria cry, desperately moving across the seat. 

“I can’t be kidnaped! I haven’t been in the Kid Choice Awards yet! We have to do something!” she snapped, but grimaced in fear only seconds after. “What can we do?! What do kidnaped people in the movies do when they’re taken?!” 

“They don’t do anything!” Aaron filled with despair. “They fucking die! That’s the thing with kidnapping!” 

Aquaria’s tears started to mix with her ruined eyeliner. She started to palpate everything around her, reaching for something. “I don’t remember anything from last night… and my purse… where is it? My purse is not here!” 

“Of course is not,” Aaron bitterly replied. “My phone isn’t neither. They probably stole everything from us and left us here to die… maybe they gave us some drug so we couldn’t remember a fucking thing.” 

“There must be something we can do,” she mumbled, turning to the backseat to see Aaron leaning on the seat. “I don’t wanna die! I refuse to die here!” 

Aaron sighed, impotence was achieving to water his eyes. He crawled to the window and forced his irritated eyes to scan around after failing to open any of the doors, trying to recognize the place the car was parked. It was well illuminated, clearly outside, but the car was beside a white wall, directly to Aquaria’s window, and everything that could be seen by the other side were trees at the distance, along with… yellow lines. Aaron put the pieces together; yellow lines over the asphalt gave an obvious hint. 

“We’re in a parking lot. I think... I think we’re in the parking lot of the mall close to Kim’s house.” 

“Great. I’m gonna die in the parking lot of my favorite mall,” Aquaria realized, her eyes narrowing in sorrow. “And my best friend won’t be alive neither to write my biography and sell it on the internet.” 

“Nobody would buy it anyways,” Aaron murmured, the words almost slipping out of his mouth before he could think of it. 

Aquaria drew in a dignified gasp. “Oh my god! Are you seriously gonna spend your last hours insulting me?! Instead of treasuring good memories with me? Or I don’t know, thinking how the hell are we gonna get out of here?!” 

“The nerves!” he blamed, rubbing his eye under his glasses. “The nerves are fucking me up. I’m sorry! Aquaria, what are we going to do?” 

“I don’t know, let me think!” 

Although Aquaria knew thinking wasn’t actually working for them, she started running her hands through her hair more and more deliberately as she shifted on the seat, hearing Aaron swearing under his breath behind her as he desperately tried to find his phone. The heat inside the car seemed to increase quickly with the minutes passing and no ideas arriving. 

“Aaron!” she finally snapped, “I have an idea!” 

“Fuck, finally!” he attempted to look at the sky, finding a plain beige ceiling instead, but the relief was the same. “What is it?” 

“Let’s try and break the window.” 

At first, Aaron wanted to laugh. He wanted to laugh because the idea was simply and plainly stupid. He had the physical strength of an ant and Aquaria wasn’t close to be Hulk neither, but her determined tone somehow lit some confidence on him that seemed impossible to find. If they were going to die trapped there, they could do it with some broken bones after all. 

“Okay,” Aaron nodded, gulping his worries away. “And how do we do that?” 

As anxious as Aquaria was, his eager support couldn’t pass unseen, and she narrowed her brows before replying the question. 

“You never accept my ideas at the first try.” 

“I’m desperate, need more explanation?” he scoffed. “Now, mind to explain me how are we going to break this fucking window?” 

“Well...” she paused. “Maybe we can hit it until it breaks.” 

“Okay. Okay,” Aaron’s voice was crackling in insecurity. “C’mon, hit it then.” 

“What? Are you kidding? With my naked hand? It’d break all my bones!” 

“Well, I won’t hit it!” 

Aquaria sighed deeply. She ran her fingers across her face, wiping at her messed mascara and ruined eyeshadow. 

“I guess we’re going to die here then.” 

“Ugh,” Aaron drawled, starting to pull his jacket down his shoulders. “Here, have my jacket. Wrap it around your hand.” 

“Wow, that’s so out of a Quentin Tarantino movie.” 

“Then it’s a good idea.” 

“I hope so,” Aquaria mumbled. She wrapped the leather material around her right fist and raised her legs to kneel on the seat, facing the window. She tried to prepare herself with little movements of her wrist. “C’mon, two weeks on the gym that I did last year, don’t fail me now.” 

Aaron couldn’t even chuckle at her whisper. He shut his eyes closed, waiting to hear the moment Aquaria’s hand passed to a better life, when another sound that wasn’t definitely shattering glass or Aquaria’s bones breaking made him jump out of his skin. 

“Guys! What are you doing?” 

Adore Delano showed up at the driver’s door. That was the last image they hoped to see, as Aaron and Aquaria screamed every single bit of air out of their lungs and Aquaria fell off the seat without achieving to hit the window. 

“Guys, guys!” Adore yelled, but her poor attempt to calm them was useless. “Hey, guys! Stop fucking screaming!” 

“Oh my god! Adore!” Aquaria cried. She crawled across the seats directly to wrap her into a tight hug. “We were so scared!” 

“Why?!” 

“We thought we were going to die!” Aaron exclaimed, poking his head from the back seat. “I’m so glad you’re here!” 

Adore raised a brow, looking down at the two crying blondes: one of them squeezing her in a hug while the other looked at her as if she was a younger version of God. No, she definitely didn’t understand what the fuck was going on. 

“Die? But why would you die in my car? Guys, did you take anything weird last night? Because if you did, you’re selfish as fuck for not sharing it with me!” she joked, bursting out laughing. 

“Wait, what?” Aquaria lifted her head, releasing Adore from her hug to point at her with a single accusing finger. Suddenly, she didn’t seem relieved anymore. “Is this your car?” 

“Yeah,” Adore shrugged carelessly. “Why?” 

“Because we were fucking locked in here!” Aaron yelled, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “We thought we were kidnaped or something!” 

“Yeah, we almost die of despair! I almost hit the window with my fist! I could’ve lost my fucking hand!” Aquaria’s throat ran dry, but she continued to yell. “Do you have an idea of how difficult is to apply eyeshadow with your left hand?!” 

There was no response. Adore stood there, frozen at their screams. She waited for the both of them to calm down before a smile would break into her face, betraying her attempt to not give away any emotion. 

“Oh... my... FUCK!” 

Aaron and Aquaria stared at her with a scowl as Adore laughed, so hard her body bent and she had to grab her stomach. Her cheeks tinted with a nice scarlet when minutes passed and her loud cackling continued. 

“Fuck, fuck! I’m crying,” she wheezed, not minding the looks of her friends, and taking generous time to low and low her laugh until it was just a series of giggles. 

“What’s so fucking funny?” Aaron demanded to know. 

“Kidnaped! Really?!” Adore wiped a tear off her cheek with her finger. “You don’t remember anything from last night, do you?” 

The two blondes locked eyes with each other. For a second, they seemed to speak with their eyes only and finally, their faces softened. 

“Uh... no. Not really,” Aquaria confessed. “What happened last night?” 

Still smiling, Adore lifted her hand. The car keys hung from her index finger. 

“First of all, let’s go inside the mall and get some fucking coffee because I feel like death and know I look so much worse,” she suggested, laughing quietly. “I think there’s a Starbucks inside?” 

The anger seemed to dissolve completely on Aquaria, who clapped excitedly. 

“Oh, fuck yes! That Starbucks has the best artificial sugar I’ve ever tried!” 

“Let’s go then,” Aaron sighed, reaching over the passenger seat to take his jacket back. “Some coffee will be good right now.” 

\- 

There was something that Justin hated more than closing at his job: opening. Coffee was supposed to be something you get in the morning to go through your day and yet Starbucks was completely empty in the mornings. 

Which left him, of course, bored and willing to bother Trixie by texts. It wasn’t his fault that her job at a flower shop was just as boring as his. 

**Justin:** _I already told u, chocolate ice cream is way better lol I don’t make the rules_

**Trixie:** _THAT’S_ _RIDICUOUS_ _. Strawberry 4 the win_

**Justin:** _chocolate 4 the win_

**Trixie** **:** _do u realize that we’re both supposed to be working and instead of that we’re discussing which ice cream is better?_

**Justin:** … 

**Justin:** _chocolate is still better_

**Justin:** _omg there’s this girl standing at the door who looks exactly like adore_ _delano_

**Trixie** **:** _what??? Take a pic!! I wanna see_

**Justin:** _of course not! That would be rude. She’s w_ _ith_ _some friends. But she really looks like adore :o it’s so weird_

A hand tapped over the counter, making Justin jump and with it, slightly throw his phone to the floor. 

“Fuck, I’m sorry!” the girl gasped. 

When he looked up, he was received with the same figure that had seen standing a few meters away for ten minutes— only that now the distance wasn’t a problem to see Adore Delano, looking like a rock goddess with messy green colored hair and ripped clothes in all her glory. It wasn’t a girl that looked like her; it _was_ her. 

Justin took a hand to his chest only to check if his heart was still beating. 

He stammered a greeting. Would be rude if he asked her to sign a napkin to take home and brag with Trixie? Would be dumb if he told her he had every single one of her albums? Now he seemed to understand Trixie’s hype over Aquaria. 

“Oh, hi! Welcome to Starbucks.” 

He felt his cheeks burning, but Adore seemed unbothered as she laughed and greeted him. 

Justin tried to keep as professional as possible; he was the only employee there since the other girl with opening shift was sick, so he took her order (of course, biting his lip when she mentioned her name to repress a scream because HE WAS PREPARING ADORE DELANO’S ORDER) and prepared three coffees with no flaw, taking some seconds from his task to look behind his shoulder and notice Adore had sat with her two friends at a table close to the counter, as far to the door as possible. 

“Adore?” he called, holding the three coffees out of the counter. 

His almost trembling voice echoed in the place. A blonde guy with a leather jacket and dark bags under his eyes that had been sitting right next to Adore stood from the table with a soft grunt to pick up the order. He had ruined eyeshadow around his eyes and mascara all over the upper part of his cheekbones, matching his tired eyes and dry lips. Even though, Justin was grateful he managed a weak grin in his direction as he took the coffees. 

“Uh, could you give me some of that artificial sugar?” he asked quietly. “My friend would kill me if I went back without her fucking sugar.” 

Justin nodded and turned around. As he took the little envelopes with sugar, he couldn’t help but thinking there was something weirdly familiar on his voice. He could swear he had listened it somewhere… 

“Aaron, hurry the fuck up!” 

That voice was also familiar. Very familiar. Justin placed the sugar in the guy’s hands when everything just fell into place. 


End file.
